Homigo fraud case may be transferred to central crime branch

Police teams sent to track the three absconding founders of the startupETtech | March 21, 2019, 08:02 IST

Image source: HomigoBy Tushar Kaushik

The case in which three IIT-Kanpur alumni — cofounders of the realty firm Homigo — have been accused of defaulting on clients’ payments, is likely to be transferred to the Central Crime Branch, according to police sources.

The firm’s three co- founders and a director are on the run after the alleged fraud, estimated to be about ₹15-20 crore. The founders — Jatin Mutruka from Punjab, Akash Varma from Uttar Pradesh and Nikunja Bateja from Chandigarh, and director Arpita are absconding. The police have sent three teams to track the founders. Sources said the case could be transferred to the Central Crime Branch.

Additional commissioner of police (east) Seemanth Kumar Singh said in the past 10 days, multiple cases against the firm’s founders have been lodged in four police stations — at Bellandur, Mico Layout, HSR Layout and Jeevan Bhima Nagar. He said a decision on transferring the case to the CCB will be taken after receiving the reports.

Homigo Realty operated on two models. It either took two months’ deposit from clients, or took larger amounts of money by agreeing to get them properties on lease. However, though several tenants moved into the properties, Homigo defaulted on payments to the owners.

Most house owners involved are asking tenants to vacate the properties. In addition, employees of Homigo have not been paid salaries or reimbursed expenses for two months and are left without a job.

Arul David, who had paid ₹7.5 lakh to Homigo for three-year lease for a flat in Bellandur in October 2018, said: “A total of 12 flats in our apartment have been occupied on lease. But with the founders (of Homigo) absconding, the owner is asking us to either make monthly rental payments or vacate the house”.

Another affected tenant in a property in Koramangala, who did not want to be named, said in his apartment complex, about 100 tenants had paid advance amounts of about ₹50,000 each to Homigo, but had found that the start-up had not made payments to the property owners. “They have not paid the water and electricity bills either, so the livelihood of many people has been affected,” the victim said.

A senior employee of Homigo said a few employees had not been paid their salaries for the past two months, while a few others had not been reimbursed for expenses they incurred on work. “There were five founders, but in February, two of them suddenly resigned. My last conversation with the other three founders was on March 7. At the time, they said they would return. They would go for investment meets, so it was not strange for them to be out of town. The Homigo office has been shut for a few days,” the employee said.